Sunday, May 29, 2016

UK: Labour activist reinstated to party after ‘anti-Semitic’ comments investigation

A senior Labour activist who was suspended over making alleged anti-Semitic comments on Facebook has been reinstated to the party.

Jackie Walker was one of a number of Labour members to be suspended shortly before the local elections earlier this month.

The Kent activist, who is vice chair of the pro Jeremy Corbyn Momentum movement, had written about ‘the African holocaust’ and called Jews ‘chief financiers of the slave trade’.Speaking to the BBC she said the last few weeks had been a ‘living nightmare’.

She added: ‘I am glad this investigation has fully cleared me of any wrongdoing.

‘I am not a racist, but I robustly defend my right and the right of others to speak openly and frankly about matters of grave political and historical importance.’

News of her reinstatement was condemned by the Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Director of communications, Jonathan Sacerdoti, said the annoucement called in to question the party’s inquiry into anti-Semitism.